The National Traffic System (NTS) is an organized network of amateur radio operators sponsored by the American Radio Relay League for the purpose of relaying messages throughout the US and Canada. Amateur radio station with modern solid-state transceiver featuring LCD display and DSP capabilities Amateur radio, often called Ham radio, is a hobby enjoyed by about six million people[1] throughout the world. ... The ARRL Logo. ...

During normal times, these messages are routine greetings ("Happy birthday Aunt Mary") and keep the system well oiled and the operators trained so that everything works when needed. When there is an emergency or disaster NTS works closely with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service to provide emergency communications. The most common type of disaster-related messages are "health and welfare" inquiries and notifications into and out of the area affected by the disaster. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Logo In the United States and Canada, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a corps of trained amateur radio operator volunteers organized to assist in public service and emergency communications. ... In times of crisis and natural disasters, Amateur radio is often used as a means of emergency communication when wireline and other conventional means of communications fail. ...

In time of disaster, it is easy to expand the system by simply creating additional meeting times for the nets with high volume, or by setting up a specific "trunk line" between two points.

Organizational structure

NTS is defined using geographic areas. The US is divided into areas that approximate time zones. Areas are divided into regions, and regions into sections that correspond to a state. Each of these subdivisions has nets for collecting and distributing traffic. A net is nothing more than a time of day and a radio frequency where the appropriate group of amateur operators can meet to send the messages on their way. Time Zone is also a historical computer game. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Radio waves. ...

Traffic passing

This process is best explained by an example. Let's say that someone in Minnesota wants to send a birthday greeting to Aunt Mary in California. They telephone their local ham friend and give him the message. Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ...

• At 6:30 local time, the Minnesota ham attends ("checks in to") the Minnesota Section net. One station there has been designated to accept all outgoing messages, and Aunt Mary's message is sent to that station.
• At 7:45, the station who received the message checks in to the Region net. This net consists of representatives from all the section nets in the region, and one station has been designated to accept all traffic that flows out of the region. Aunt Mary's greeting will be sent to this station.
• At 8:30, the station from the region checks into the Area net and sends Aunt Mary's greeting to the designated representative from the Pacific area.
• At 8:30 Pacific Time, the Pacific Area net meets. (All the area nets meet at 8:30 local time; since they are in different time zones there is no overlap.) At this point the process is repeated in the opposite order
  • The area representative sends the message to the appropriate region representative,
  • The region representative meets a later session of the region net and sends the message to the appropriate section representative,
  • The section representative meets a later section net and sends the message to the closest operator to Aunt Mary's home
• The final recipient calls Aunt Mary on the telephone and delivers the greeting.

Perhaps this sounds rather complex, but it really isn't. Each net uses the same procedure and operating techniques, so as novice operators gain experience they can "graduate" from section to region to area nets. Every message is placed into the same format. The operation is disciplined but not unduly complex.

See also

• Morse code
• NATO phonetic alphabet
• Packet radio
• Winlink
• Gwinnett ARES

1922 Chart of the Morse Code Letters and Numerals Morse code is a method for transmitting telegraphic information, using standardized sequences of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. ... FAA radiotelephony phonetic alphabet and Morse code chart. ... Packet radio is a form of digital data transmission used in amateur radio to construct wireless computer networks. ... Winlink, also known as the Winlink 2000 Network, is a worldwide radio messaging system that mixes internet technology and appropriate amateur radio technologies to deliver advantages not possible with each alone. ...

External links

• Public service manual from ARRL
• Radio amateurs of Canada description of NTS